


Vestiges

by Quark_Logic



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Canonical Character Death, Duel on the Death Star, Ficlet, Force Bond, Gen, Obi-Wan vs. Darth Vader, bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 12:23:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21099425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quark_Logic/pseuds/Quark_Logic
Summary: While duelling in the Death Star, Obi-Wan tries to connect with Anakin through their old Force Bond, not really expecting it to work.





	Vestiges

_I wish..._

Obi-Wan doesn't know why, but for a moment, all he wants is to see Anakin's face one more time. He wants to feel Anakin's Force presence, bright as a thousand suns, like it used to be.

Like it used to be, twenty years in the past, when the being before him was a man of flesh and bone, of heart and courage. A Jedi. A brother.

Instead, there's a monster, more machine than man, lightsaber red as blood, raised, ready to strike.

And just for a moment.

_I wish..._

He doesn't know why he does it. He hasn't done it in two decades, since that fateful day in Mustafar. It was too painful, too unbearable. But he does it now; Obi-Wan reaches out, like muscle memory that doesn't go away even with twenty years of disuse.

Through the vestiges of their old Force bond, he reaches; the connection that began as a training bond, when Anakin was a child and Obi-Wan had become a Jedi Knight not a week before. The connection he thought forever lost.

Maybe it's the will of the Force. Maybe it's because they are so close after so many years. Maybe it's neither.

But the fact is, when Obi-Wan touches, he expects to feel nothing, or maybe he expects pain. He doesn't expect the bright, almost blinding flash in the Force that grasps out and doesn't let go.

Obi-Wan feels him. Mutilated, hateful, lost, but it's _him_, it's _Anakin_, his brother, his Padawan.

And it's so painful, to feel him like this, just a shadow of what he used to be, and so full of hate.

Obi-Wan aches for him.

_I wish..._

Obi-Wan opens his eyes, and there is Vader, lightsaber raised, frozen in place. And though his mask shows no emotion, Obi-Wan can feel his anger and _fear_ rise.

"What have you done, old man?!" he demands. Obi-Wan doesn't have an answer.

_I wish..._

Vader lowers his 'saber and lifts his hand, and with it so does Obi-Wan, gasping for breath as the Force chokes him.

"Stop it!" Vader shouts. The grip in Obi-Wan throat tightens. "What is it you _wish_ so much? Answer me!"

Obi-Wan can't help the tears that go down his face. Strangely, calm seems to wash over him, relief and pain like he hasn't ever felt, contradicting emotions piercing into his soul.

"You feel it too," he manages to choke out. "Anakin..."

Vader drops him, stepping back. Obi-Wan looks up at him, rubbing his sore throat, and he can't help but _wish_.

"Oh, dear one, I wish things had been different," Obi-Wan laments. "I wish I could go back and fix it, I wish..." He trails off, not looking away from Vader's face, as painful as it is. Quietly, he adds, almost to himself, "I wish to see you again. I wish I could be blinded by your brilliance one more time..."

He looks down at his lightsaber, still ignited in his hand, and sighs. He looks up at Vader again.

"But alas, it is not meant to be," he says as he stands up. Vader raises his lightsaber, but doesn't step closer.

Obi-Wan stretches into the Force one more time, searching for what's left of Anakin.

"I did love you, Anakin," he says, and it feels like a goodbye, just as it did so long ago on a planet of fire.

This time though, it is more bittersweet than heartbreaking.

Vader screams, enraged, and cuts through his former Master. Obi-Wan disappears into the Force, as it was meant to be, and Vader is left there, alone in a battle station full of allies that feel like enemies, his only true company regret and pain.

As Darth Vader kneels, touching Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber, he is more Anakin than he has been in two decades.

As he rises and walks away, both lightsabers clutched tight in his gloved hands, he leaves some of his darkness behind.


End file.
